Sigh of relief

I went in to have the preliminary work done to prepare for radiation treatment. They informed me that they would be utilizing the CT scanner and would be inducing dye along with it. I said, funny, I just had that done on Friday. This was after I had undressed, put on one of those lovely hospital gowns and was lying on their table by the CT scanner. One of the techs came back to say that as I had just had the CT scan with dye just a few days ago, that they needed to have a blood test first to make sure that the creatinine was at a normal level. So off the table I went, got dressed and went to have the blood work done. The appointment was then rescheduled for Thursday, in two more days. I was informed to make sure that I had no more CT scans in the meantime. Hmmmmm. Since this office had scheduled both of these CT scans, I had to bite my tongue. Good thing they don't offer CT scans with dye in alleyways as I am obviously addicted and don't know whether I could hold myself back for the next 2 days! Okay, be nice, Shelley!

So off I went to do some quick grocery shopping and then head home, disappointed that I hadn't heard the results of the CT scan performed on Friday. While at the grocery store I received a call from Dr. Warner, the radiologist. She was at a different location today, but wanted to let me know that she was sorry for the scheduling problem we had with the CT scans. What a pleasant surprise for her to call me so quickly. I asked her when the radiation treatments might actually begin and she thought that September 22nd was a probable start date.

Dr. Warner then told me that she had gotten the results of the CT scan and that the nodules on my lungs had remained stable and so were most likely scar tissue and not metastatic cancer from the breast tumor!!! Whew! So far the cancer has remained contained in the breast and lymph nodes, and the radiation treatment should kill off any last remaining cancer cells.

Unfortunately this good news is shadowed by bad news of a friend who has just been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. I am hoping that her treatment will be as successful as mine appears to be. It is amazing how quickly the thoughts of fear and denial jumped up when I heard her news. I know exactly what she is going through and can only hope the best for her.